Fed-Up Protesters Open Carry Firearms In Michigan March Against Criminal Aliens

Protestors, some exercising their open-carry rights, assemble outside of the the Wolverine Center in Vassar that would house illegal juveniles to show their dismay for the situation, July 14, 2013. Coty Giannelli | Mlive.com

More than 50 people from across Michigan turned out to protest the possibility that a Vassar facility could house Central American children and teens who have fled into the country.

The group, led by Michiganders for Immigration Control and Enforcement organizer Tamyra Murray, marched a little more than a mile, from Vassar City Hall to Wolverine Human Services’ Pioneer Work and Learn Center.

Some carried AR-15 rifles and handguns, while others carried Gadsden “Don’t Tread on Me” flags, American flags and Rochester resident Jeff McQueen’s “second American revolution” flags, designed from Betsy Ross’ flag with a Roman Numeral II in the middle.

“We’re not against kids,” Murray said, speaking to media before the march started. “We have sympathy for the kids being used and exploited by the feds.”

I can’t say that I’m all that surprised to see a convergence of open carry with other political messaging, though I’m sure that the radical anti-gun left is going to have a hissy fit. Ladd Everitt and the CSGV are sure to scream that these lawful protesters are “insurrectionists” for daring to display their disdain for the illegal alien invasion that many Americans feel was orchestrated by the Obama Administration.

A protestor holds a sign outside of the the Wolverine Center in Vassar that would house illegal juveniles from Central America, July 14, 2013. Coty Giannelli | Mlive.com

Local law enforcement didn’t seem to find the protest to be a cause for concern, and the handful of officers that appeared to keep a watch on the situation had a decidedly relaxed posture.

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The attitude further south is a bit less relaxed, as the Minuteman Project and other militia groups are announcing plans to stage a presence on the U.S. Mexico border in an attempt to stop the flow of OTMs (“Other Than Mexicans,” a Border Patrol term for criminal aliens from central and South american countries).

The planned resurgence of the Minuteman Project comes amid more confrontational calls to action along the Southwest border in the form of several loosely organized anti-government groups recruiting would-be armed border watchers for patrols. Gilchrist insisted his group will obey all state and federal laws during their patrols.

“The one rule of Operation Normandy: Stay within the rule of law,” he said. “Whatever you do, stay within the rule of law.”

But Gilchrist distanced himself from Chris Davis, a 37-year-old Texas truck driver and leader of a militia group that had promised to deploy along the border to confront and intimidate illegal immigrants. Davis, who posted a 21-minute YouTube video last week, has since removed the clip in which he reportedly said: “You see an illegal. You point your gun dead at him, right between his eyes, and you say, ‘Get back across the border or you will be shot.'”

Davis, who could not be reached for comment, told the Los Angeles Times his group aimed to supplement law enforcement officers with its “Operation Secure Our Border,” focusing on the Laredo sector, which encompasses 116 counties and covers 101,439 square miles of southwest and northeast Texas, including Brooks and Hidalgo counties, the epicenter of the current immigrant influx.

“There’s nothing malicious, there’s no malicious intent — every person is vetted,” Davis told the newspaper. “We’re just here to serve freedom, liberty and national sovereignty.”

Doing as Davis advises is of course assault with a deadly weapon. That some citizens are so frustrated that they feel compelled to publicly discuss such vigilante actions says quite a bit about the failure of the federal government to secure the border.

There are concerns that the presence of these groups along the border could lead to confrontations with criminal alien smugglers (“coyotes”) and drug cartels bringing drugs north across the border. Both human and drug smugglers are often armed, and the possibility of a firefight between armed citizens and groups of criminal invaders is a very real possibility.

Bob Owens is the Editor of BearingArms.com.
Bob is a graduate of roughly 400 hours of professional firearms training classes, including square range and force-on force work with handguns and carbines. He is a past volunteer instructor with Project Appleseed. He most recently received his Vehicle Close Quarters Combat Instructor certification from Centrifuge Training, and is the author of the short e-book, So You Want to Own a Gun.
He can be found on Twitter at bob_owens.
https://bearingarms.com/author/bobowens-bearingarms/